


Maybe She's Got A Friend

by freudensteins_monster



Series: With You 'Til The End Of The Line [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Agent Carter References, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bucky Barnes & Peggy Carter Friendship, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes didn't die, Captain America still went into the ice, F/M, Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied James "Bucky" Barnes/Angie Martinelli, Meet-Cute, Moving On, My First Work in This Fandom, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Post-Captain America: The First Avenger, Post-World War II, Strategic Scientific Reserve, alternative ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 14:02:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6613438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freudensteins_monster/pseuds/freudensteins_monster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternative ending for Captain America: The First Avenger where Bucky didn't fall from the train but Steve still went into the ice. A story about Bucky Barnes trying to find to his way in the world without his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe She's Got A Friend

Bucky had thought being shipped out was the scariest moment of his life. And then he thought it was getting captured and tortured by Hydra, or the ten terrifying seconds he spent holding on for dear life on the outside of a speeding train before Steve pulled him back in. He thought for months that it was the moment when he heard Steve’s radio silence followed by Peggy’s crying. But it was none of those moments.

It snuck up on him, putting a chill up his spine, whilst he was sitting at his mother’s dining table in Brooklyn the day after he got home. He was sitting there, sipping on cheap coffee whilst his mother and sister were flitting around him just so damn happy to have him home, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do with himself now. And then it hit him: What the hell was he going to do without his best friend?

He stayed close to home for the first few weeks but it was obvious his ma needed help keeping the landlord off her back and so he pushed his depression and shellshock deep inside and he went out and found himself a job. It wasn’t until Peggy looked him up after she landed stateside that he got offered something better. Fighting the good fight, saving the world, and keeping an eye on Peggy – it’s what Steve would have wanted, right?

The SSR guys were meatheads for the most part, and had no idea that they were looking down their noses at a dame who could take them all down without so much as breaking a nail. He wanted to knock some sense into them but Peggy wouldn’t let him. He admired her for wanting to fight her own battles, but knew how exhausting it was for her, so when she wound up gravitating towards him when the boss was handing out assignments, rather than demanding one of her own, he didn’t say a damn thing about it.

After one of their first assignments together, a simple stake out which dragged on until morning, Peggy offered to buy him a coffee.

“For letting me come along,” she said, with the slightest hint of bitterness.

“You and I both know it’s the other way around, Peg,” Bucky teased.

Peggy smiled wistfully at him, the same smile she gave him whenever the ‘old’ Bucky shone through, and it served to remind him that he wasn’t the only one hurting from Steve’s death. He gave her shoulder a squeeze before letting her step through the automat’s revolving door first, taking up the stool beside her at the counter.

“Hey English, who’s the greaseball?”

“Who you calling greaseball, sweetheart?” Bucky shot back at the mouthy waitress.

“Have you seen your hair lately?”

Bucky resisted the urge to check his hair (which he’d slicked back with just the right amount of pomade, thank you very much), glancing at Peggy for an explanation as to why he was being attacked before he had a chance to get a coffee.

“Angie, this is Bucky. He’s a technician at the phone company, and one of the good ones, I promise you.”

“Alright, if English is vouching for you I guess I’ll be nice to you,” Angie smiled warmly, any previous hostility she held evaporating as she gave Bucky a once over. Bucky bit back a bashful smile; apparently Peggy’s opinion held a lot of weight with the bright eyed waitress. “You pair are looking a little rough around the edges, you pull an all-nighter too?” she asked, pouring them each a coffee.

“Yes,” Peggy replied. “Half the switchboard went dark a little before ten and it took Bucky and his team most the night to set things right again. Even with me keeping the suits off his back.”

Bucky took a sip of his coffee to keep from commenting. If he had to guess he’d say Peggy had about a hundred stories relating to her cover job ready to go for occasions such as this.

“Well, after a godawful night like that I’ve got just the thing. Homemade apple pie, right out of the oven, just like grandma used to make.”

“For breakfast?” Bucky scoffed.

“The best breakfast there is, Brooklyn,” Angie beamed, wandering away to fix him a piece before he could turn her down. He watched her go, a bounce in her step even after being on her feet all night, and he couldn’t help but smile. It faded into something more beleaguered when he felt Peggy grinning beside him.

“What?”

“Angie was the first friend I made after I came back to New York. She’s very nice, don’t you think?” she asked, failing terribly at subtlety.

“Yeah, she’s swell,” Bucky replied flatly.

“And single,” Peggy added quietly, sipping her coffee.

“You don’t say?” Bucky smirked.

“Say what?” Angie asked, setting a piece of pie in front of them.

“I was just telling Bucky about your stage endeavours,” Peggy lied.

“You wanna be a canary, dollface?” Bucky asked, interested despite himself.

“Me? Nah,” Angie shrugged. “I’m going to be the next Whitney Frost. If I ever pass an audition, that is,” she added sourly.

“With looks like that, and all that gumption to boot, I reckon you could make a go of it, doll,” Bucky replied, smiling widely as Angie practically glowed from his compliment. He averted his gaze, shovelling a forkful of warm apple pie into his trap before it got him into more trouble.

“Now, tell me that isn’t the best pie you ever had in your life,” Angie demanded, leaning on the counter in front of him, gauging his reactions with a teasing smile.

“This is the best damn pie I’ve ever had in my life,” Bucky admitted, trying not to moan as he took another bite.

“Told ya,” Angie said with a wink before another early morning customer called for a refill.

“Quit lookin’ at me like that, Carter. It’s good pie,” Bucky grumbled bashfully, his eyes glued to his plate to avoid meeting her amused stare.

“I’m sure it is, but my bed is calling me,” she said abruptly, picking up her things. “Do pass on my regrets to Angie, won’t you?”

Bucky let out an amused huff and dug into his pie, and had started on Peggy’s when Angie returned, coffee pot in hand.

“What happened to English?”

“She said something about getting her beauty sleep.”

“Like she needs it,” Angie snorted, filling Bucky’s cup. “You sweet on her, Brooklyn?”

“Nah, she’s…” Bucky hesitated. He hadn’t planned any cover stories, and he didn’t know how many war stories, if any, Peggy had told Angie. “She’s a friend. She got me my job. She’s good people.” It was the truth at least, and he could always elaborate once he’d checked with Peggy.

“Whatever you say, Brooklyn,” Angie replied with a small smile.

“It’s Bucky. Or James, or even Barnes, if you’d prefer, doll.”

“No, I think Brooklyn suits you just fine,” she teased.

“Whatever you say, Broadway.”

 

Once the pie was gone Bucky paid the tab, leaving a generous tip, and headed home. And if the automat became Bucky’s new regular spot, Peggy didn’t say a damn thing about it.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a lot of Bucky Barnes feels of late, and Angie's been sneaking into my story ideas. I hope you liked it. Sort of part one of something but I think they work better as part of a series rather than two chapters, so... Stay tuned. xoxox 
> 
> And I'm over on tumblr if you're so inclined. http://freudensteins-monster.tumblr.com/


End file.
